Biggles Defies the Swastika/plot
Chapter 1: An Unpleasant Awakening Colonel Raymond pulls Biggles out from active service in France and sends him on an undercover mission to Norway. Based at a flying club and posing as a Norwegian named Sven Hendrik, he has been scouting possible landing grounds in preparation for British forces who might come to Norway's aid in the event of a German invasion. After two months in Norway, Biggles is inclined to think that an invasion won't happen. Thus he is caught napping when the Germans arrive suddenly and rapidly take over Oslo. Almost stranded, Biggles manages to steal a German officer's motorcycle and head for his flying club at Boda, hoping to fly his plane back to Britain. Chapter 2: Alarming Developments Biggles arrives at Boda to find that it has been turned into a German airbase. Kristen, a Norwegian club member and several other pro-Nazi traitors have taken it over and prepared it for the invaders. Kristen spots Biggles in a German motorcycle and mistakes him for a fellow traitor. He welcomes him and introduces him to Hauptmann Baron von Leffers, the new German commandant, and Biggles soon finds himself inducted as an officer in the German Air Force! Chapter 3: Across the Frontier With the temporary freedom as a German officer, Biggles rides to the Swedish frontier and escapes across. He meets the British vice-consul who puts him in touch with Raymond--and Raymond sends him back to gether intelligence. Chapter 4: Cross-Examined Reluctantly, Biggles returns to Boda to find Gestapo officers have arrived to cross-examine him. Oberleutnant Ernst von Hymann, the local Gestapo chief is interested in Hendrik's background. Having once flown with Arctic Airways, he would recognise one of their former pilots, one "James Bigglesworth" who is now wanted as a British spy known to be in Oslo. Biggles now finds himself recruited into the Gestapo with a special pass and a mission to hunt himself down! But all is not well. Erich von Stalhein has arrived in Oslo, having been fetched by another Gestapo officer Brandt who also knows Biggles by sight. Biggles evades them narrowly and heads for Narvik where he has heard that the British may be landing. Chapter 5: Unexpected Allies On his way north, he meets Bill Evans, a merchant navy officer whose trawler had torpedoed. Biggles wants to help him but he sees German soldiers closing in and they can't escape. So he devices a complex plan and asks Bill to help him. Bill agrees, so according to plan, Biggles resumes his guise as a Gestapo officer, pretends to take Bill and his ships company prisoner and hands them over to a German patrol. Biggles next heads for Narvik where he shows his Gestapo pass and demands to question British prisoners. He is taken to the P.O.W.s but gets a shock when he sees Algy in the line-up. Chapter 6: The Navy Arrives Soon, more prisoners arrive in the form of Bill Evans and his men. Biggles questions them, and according to plan, Bill lies that one "Bigglesworth" had been among them but he found a dinghy and had rowed out to escape to a steamer. The local commandant, a German colonel, had witnessed this questioning, so Biggles calls von Hymann to say that Bigglesworth had escaped, and he gets the colonel to corroborate the story. That still left the problem of how to rescue Algy. But a Dornier flying boat arrives to report that five British destroyers were steaming up the fiord towards Narvik. Biggles must warn the navy that Narvik was strongly defended, with coastal batteries and six German destroyers. So he steals the Dornier and heads for the Brtish flotilla. He manages to get the message through but decides he needs to go back to help Algy. Back at Narvik, Biggles takes advantage of the temporary chaos caused by the British attack to spring the prisoners. He tells Algy and the rest to move down the fiord and try to be picked up by the destroyers. Biggles plans to follow but he bumps into the German commander accompanied by a pilot named Schaffer. Schaffer offers him a ride back to Boda and Biggles cannot refuse without arousing suspicion. He even offers Biggles his spare uniform to replace his wet ones. Chapter 7: What Happened at Stavenger Back at Boda, Leffers tells Biggles that von Stalhein and Brandt are coming to see him. In the meantime, a British agent slips him a note: Raymond wants intelligence about enemy dispositions at Stavenger. It is suicidal to stay at Boda so Biggles steals a Me-109 and flies off. At Stavenger, Biggles begins taking notes but soon, von Stalhein arrives in a two seater. Biggles takes advantage of an R.A.F. raid to steal von Stalhein's aircraft and heads for "Fiord 21", a nominated rendezvous which Raymond had given him. Low on fuel, he ditches into the fiord. Stepping ashore, he is relieved to find Ginger waiting for him. Chapter 8: Explanations and Decisions There is good and bad news. Algy did get away but then decided to go to Boda to look for Biggles. Biggles sends Ginger to report to Raymond with the intelligence while he waits at the fiord for Algy. When Ginger returns but Algy does not, Biggles has Ginger fly him to Boda where he drops in by parachute. Chapter 9: Back at Boda Instructions have been sent to Boda to arrest "Hendrik" and von Stalhein arrives in person. Biggles tries to evade but is spotted by Kristen. Just then, von Stalhein's car pulls up, driven by Algy! They make their escape in the stolen car. Chapter 10: On the Run They head to Oslo, hoping to steal a flying boat but they had moved. They then head for Fiord 21 hoping to make contact with Ginger. Chapter 11: Complications They reach Fiord 21 to find a squadron of Dornier flying boats sheltering in the waters. But soon a large number Blackburn Skua aircraft approach and begin to attack the Germans in the fiord. Ginger must have fetched them! Biggles spots Ginger's landing some distance away and goes to meet him. He returns to get Algy but he has now been captured by some German airmen, survivors of the raid. Biggles has no choice but tho play along--he is, after all, still wearing Schaffer's German Air Force uniform. The Germans, thinking he is one of their own, tell him that they had been laying mines in Westfiord as a trap for the Royal Navy. Somehow, Biggles must warn the fleet! Chapter 12: Desperate Measures What plans Biggles had for himself and Algy are forestalled when he meets Schaffer who had flown to Oslo to report the raid and now had returned. Schaffer has heard about the hue and cry for a British agent and is suspicious of Biggles but he doesn't want to risk wrongly arresting a genuine Gestapo man. So he decides to offer Biggles a lift to Oslo and let someone else handle the problem. Again, Biggles cannot refuse. Once airborne in Schaffer's Dornier, Biggles attacks him and after a struggle which also endangers the aircraft, Biggles gets the upper hand and has Schaffer at gunpoint. But just then he is attacked by--of all people--Ginger in his seaplane. Biggles has no choice but to put down on the water and force Schaffer to swim ashore. Chapter 13: Fresh Plans Meanwhile, Ginger is so engrossed in his "victory" over the Dornier that he is jumped unawares by a flight of 8 Me-110 fighters and is himself shot down. Ironically, it is now Biggles who taxis the Dornier over to pick him up. Biggles decides to split up again. Ginger must go and warn the fleet after dropping off Biggles nearer Fiord 21 to rescue Algy. Ginger looks for the fleet in the gathering darkness but runs out of fuel. Stranded on the water, he is finally picked up by a British armed trawler. Ginger passes then warning about the mines in Westfiord to the trawler captain and then settles down to a good meal--but before long, there is a massive explosion. They have been torpedoed! Ginger finds himself in the water and is picked up by a German submarine. Chapter 14: Trapped! Biggles heads for a German supply ship in Fiord 21 where he had earlier seen Algy being taken. He finds a boat, rows out to the ship and climbs up a rope ladder ... straight into the gun of von Stalhein, who had anticipated his arrival and had make it easy for him. Von Stalhein tells Biggles and Algy that Ginger has also been captured and would be joining them soon, and all of them would be executed in the morning. Biggles and Algy waste no time. Algy feigns illness to distract the guard and Biggles subdues him with the flex from their electric light. Chapter 15: The Last Round Biggles now poses as the guard. When the party of men arrive with Ginger and enter the cell, Biggles follows behind and holds them up. They leave their former captors tied up in the cell and escape the ship, heading for a Dornier which they saw some distance away. The alarm is raised but Algy holds the pursuers up with the Dornier's machine guns while Biggles executes a hazardous take off down the length of the narrow fiord in the darkness. Our friends head for Britain but are soon picked up by a British destroyer. The captain tells them Ginger's warning did get through. Arriving in port, they find Colonel Raymond waiting. He tells them he has plans.... Nothing doing, Biggles tells him but Raymond plans to invite them for dinner at the Savoy. "That's different," says Biggles. Category:Plot summaries